Challenge to "accepted" wisdom on hydration

I think it is an interesting article that it challenges (for me anyway) the assumption that you need to keep hydrated especially if you are doing a lot of exercise. I must admit I tend to keep a bottle of water with me most of the time largely as I tend to spend a couple of hours a day doing cardio plus weights in the gym. It's also worth pointing out that it tends to get filled with tap water.

It is also bad news for the "sports" drinks industry that seems (at least in the UK) to try and convince us that their "isotronic" drinks are better than water.

Interested if anyone has any strong views either way or knowledge of conflicting research.

I've never HAD to drink a lot of water and I do some moderate to heavy workouts...the drive to force water into people in my Army basic training about had me puking up H2O. Some studies (I cant recall them exactly) I recall used to say that water consumption was pretty person specific in regards to need.

I've never HAD to drink a lot of water and I do some moderate to heavy workouts...the drive to force water into people in my Army basic training about had me puking up H2O. Some studies (I cant recall them exactly) I recall used to say that water consumption was pretty person specific in regards to need.

I have on occasion filled myself up with water on a workout only to regret it and feel bloated and sick - haven't quite got round to puking water yet.

I preffer water to sports drinks. This mostly has to do with sugar and chemical additives. They pack enough sugar into those things that I'll get a headache if I drink them. The other stuff I just prefer not to put in my body all the time.

I get thirsty more often when I work out a lot. I can consume LOTS of water when exercising but if I dont pace myself I will feel bloated.

If I'm not exercising and I try to force myself to drink lots of water I will feel bloated regardless of pace.

Telling people not to buy sports drinks because salted water can do it is like telling people not to take Tums because downing a spoon of baking soda does the exact same thing. I mean, I suppose you COULD do it if you really want to save money, but it's far more convenient (and better tasting) to just use commercial goods.

Eh.

I'm also not sure what the whole OD on water is about; it's common sense that anything taken to the extreme is bad for you.

Telling people not to buy sports drinks because salted water can do it is like telling people not to take Tums because downing a spoon of baking soda does the exact same thing. I mean, I suppose you COULD do it if you really want to save money, but it's far more convenient (and better tasting) to just use commercial goods.

Eh.

I'm also not sure what the whole OD on water is about; it's common sense that anything taken to the extreme is bad for you.

Hyponatremia is definitely a real concern/potentially fatal and hydration strategies are very important.
Hello MAs are weight class sports...

Measuring whether you're drinking enough water is easy, you weigh yourself naked before and after heavy workouts.

And what are you supposed to discover, that you don't lose weight if you've hydrated properly? Not sure about weight training but for endurance stuff you've probably over hydrated in that case. Modern thinking is that it is OK to lose some water weight over a short time. If you're running ultras different story but you shouldn't need to hydrate for a 10k training run unless its really hot, and you're just slowing yourself down racing. Longer than that you probably need water but most overdo it.